FIRST PERSON: BEARING WITNESS TO LIFE IN BIXBY PARK IS NEARLY UNBEARABLE
By Kat Peterson
EDITOR’S NOTE:Kat Peterson has lived near Bixby Park for nearly a year since moving to Long Beach. She says she chose her apartment for its location, but before knowing the park’s condition. Peterson is a former volunteer and board member with a not-for-profit organization that annually provides intervention and support to more than 25,000 individuals and families with services addressing substance abuse, economic deprivation, hunger and homelessness. Her essay is excerpted from reader comments to GreaterLongBeach.com’s Aug. 27 report about a letter to Council members Suja Lowenthal and Gary DeLong sent by Bixby Park-area neighborhood associations unhappy with conditions in the park. It is highlighted here with Ms. Peterson’s permission—and her photographs.
I LIVE VERY CLOSE TO BIXBY PARK, and I witness and photograph illegal behaviors and activities there on a daily basis.
I do not use the park, although I would like to. I have not attended any functions in the park throughout the summer due to the “bad element” that “resides” there. I have seen drug deals, bloody fights, public drinking and drunkeness, public urination (indecent exposure), public sex acts, littering, loitering, sleeping in vehicles, sleeping in the band shell and more.
By the way, almost none of this activity is done by the skateboarders. For the most part, they are there to have fun, perfect their skills and teach their dogs to skateboard. The moms and kids on the playground also do not contribute to the problem.
I AWAKENED ONE MORNING in July 2011 to find a homeless man (my pet name for him is Mr. PeePee, for obvious reasons) asleep under a blanket on MY FRONT PORCH! I called the Long Beach Police Department, and dispatch told me the Long Beach Fire Department had to respond. She wanted to know if he was breathing—had I touched him to make sure he was alive?
Seriously, do you think I am going to touch him? He’s filthy, he stinks, he is ALWAYS stumbling down drunk, he urinates on the trees in the park, on the wall of RiteAid … did she really think I was going to touch him? Would she? By the time the fire department arrived he had fled.
I have seen bloody fights, called the police, and by the time they arrive (45 minutes later), all participants have fled. But if someone makes a call about a drunk man down in the park, with minutes four police cars arrive, along with a fire truck and paramedics. They proceed to load him into the ambulance and take him to hospital, where he is most likely given IVs, food and a cushy place to sleep for the night. He’s back in the morning with a Jack Daniels bottle.
Recently, I became so fed up that I called the Chief of Police, got his secretary’s voicemail (who was on vacation), then got another assistant, who put me in contact with the head officer of patrol. He mentioned that this is a very busy area and that there is a smaller police force due to budget cuts.
After a lengthy discussion with him, it was determined that he would step up night patrols to get the sleepers out of the band shell, there would be more drive-bys at night and they would put an end to sleeping in vehicles on 2nd Street, between Junipero and Cherry.
The band shell rarely has sleepers in it now, and there have been fewer fights. However, the situation has not changed with overnight sleepers in vehicles.
This is a very SMALL start. Who knows how long it will last? We’ve a LONG way to go. The officer suggested that I contact (Council members Suja) Lowenthal and (Gary) DeLong, as that is where their (the police patrol officers’) direct orders come from.
Yeah, I can see how much that helped from the article written above.
Now the LBPD is laying off another 35 officers? REALLY? Make the cuts elsewhere; cut politicians’ salaries, for a start!
Who wants to go to a park that is unsafe, filthy, smells of urine, has homeless people taking up no less than two picnic tables & a bench with their recycling efforts in order to purchase more Jack Daniels? They share, isn’t that nice? They also take very good care of each other; if one is falling-down drunk the others will get him off the ground prop him up on a bench.
PERHAPS WE SHOULD JUST BULLDOZE THE PARK & PUT UP CONDOS!
Since I’m on my soapbox… On March 22, a good friend fell and shattered her ankle (literally, her foot was facing backwards) at 1st Street and Kennebeck). Paramedics responded, but they refused to transport her to hospital as it isn’t in the budget. HELLO!!!!
I love Long Beach but we truly need some major changes and FAST!
Thanks for listening … reading.
60 Comments
I was amazed to find that Armed services under fire, twenty-four hours a day make less than one-third (33%) of what local “Law Enforcement” make in salary.
Who audits the police? Is the city council in the back pockets again
or just afraid of their jobs.
This crap will go on until there is nothing left of a country with no honor, where the “free” are enslaved by politicians who have their hands in the till.
P.S.
is the 911 number outsourced?
Where do you suggest the homeless people go? Being homeless isn’t a crime.
I don’t recall saying homelessness is a crime…sleeping in a park is, along with consumption of acohol, drug trafficing, urinating in public (the park has bathrooms), and all the other things mentioned in my post. When these people are transported to hospital & jails…just who do you think pays for that? Why shouldn’t the people that “pay” for the park in taxes be able to actually use the park?
So Cal has hundreds of programs for homeless people (I know this to be a fact as I was in that industry for 7 years until only recently). I have NEVER met a homeless person that was happy to be homeless, hungry & addicted. I am all FOR helping them get into programs but I cannot do it alone, it takes the entire village…
LBCityGirl, how about Victorville?
Citizen Journalist Quotes of the Day – Bureaucratic Bumbling
“Government proposes, bureaucracy disposes. And the bureaucracy must dispose of government proposals by dumping them on us.” — P.J. O’Rourke
“Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.” — Laurence J. Peter
“A system of carrying on the business of government by means of departments or bureaus, each under the control of a chief…” –- Definition of Bureaucracy
“If you’re going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy; God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won’t.” — Hyman Rickover
“Bureaucracies are inherently antidemocratic. Bureaucrats derive their power from their position in the structure, not from their relations with the people they are supposed to serve. The people are not masters of the bureaucracy, but its clients.” — Alan Keyes
“The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency.” — Eugene McCarthy
(Source: brainyquote.com)
How long have Councilmembers Suja Lowenthal and Gary DeLong been running the police department? Why then do we need Police Chief McDonnell?
LBCityGirl,
How about YOUR front porch?
Kat, thanks for this important and necessary glimpse into some of the many challenges experienced in several of our city parks, not only the one you live near.
To be effective, solutions to all quality of life challenges of this sort must be multi-faceted, comprehensive and ongoing. Law enforcement should not be viewed as the only solution but, rather, merely one important aspect.
When called, law enforcement should respond in a timely manner whenever possible. The officers themselves, however, often have little control over this timing. Once they get there, there are reasonable and proper limits on the solutions that are available to them, and none of these solutions are permanent but merely temporary and stop-gap at best.
City government itself, of which LBPD is simply a very visible part, is also limited in how much it can do. Ultimately, the best and longest-term solutions reside in the people in the park themselves. We can make all of the services in the world available to them, but unless they accept the help, and make the personal changes necessary in their own lives, little is ever going to change.
Sadly.
It always amazes me when someone moves into a neighborhood and then “discovers” it has issues. Bixby Park has been there for 100 years and has had problems for the same period of time. (I recall when kids attending the Iowa picnic spilled ice cream on the sidewalk) What did you expect when you moved across the street from an urban park in a large city?
I USED to live directly across from the park. I have seen it all, the knife fight between to 2 tranny’s and a couple of guys, the drunk guy passed out in the street, the drug deals, the peeing. And the cops do, do drive buys but they have never stopped to even walk around the park to check things out they see the usual drinkers sitting on the concrete benches drinking but do anything about it, BUT they stop me… I got home late one night had to park in no man’s land, I walked through the park because that is where the lights were working, the lights on the street weren’t (thinking I was being safe) all of a sudden a cop car comes up onto the grass shines a light in my face and tells me to put my hands on the car. NOW I am a little scared cause I am trying to figure out what I did, I was then told that it is illegal to be in the park after 10PM.. I almost laughed in his face because when I looked to my left there were people in the park and they were still there at 2AM. Cops questioned me then left, and never once when up to the other people. I just do not get it. Suja Lowenthal and Gary DeLong are worthless, I think they should give up what ever they make on the city council so we can try and save at least 1 cop. And yes I have called their offices and pretty much got the run around, not surprising I moved out of the area.
Also had people sleeping in the stairwell of my builing, pretty scary when you are walking to your storage unit and come across a person snoring.
ALL parks have issues…Bixby seems to have more than it’s share…these problems are not infrequent, they are daily – at times hourly….I have seen moms enter the park with their children, observe these behaviors and flee…I’ve seen bloody bottle fights, beatings…and the list goes on…
On Saturday afternoons, Long Beach Parks and Recreation offers a fee based ceramics workshop attended by people who live throughout Long Beach and beyond. After a drunk homeless woman tried to beat the teacher, a park ranger has been assigned to oversee the park during the class for the safety of the teacher and students. Not only is Bixby Park dirty and litter-strewn, but the electricity that fires the kiln hasn’t worked in two weeks. It is a sad state of affairs when the community and children can’t safely utilize a public park. Its time for the Long Beach Parks and Recreation to issue refunds and credits to the students who have wasted their time and money on the ceramics class workshop due to the ineptitude of the City who can’t even get the electricity to work. At Bixby Park, the lights are off and the homeless are everywhere!
Note: Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal is well aware of this situation.
I hear you on this. I’ve had homeless men sleeping (and defecating) on the front porch of my apartment as well and I live several blocks from the park. The park should not be a place where homeless people go to shoot up, pass out, sleep, etc. I suppose they could close the park from midnight to 5 a.m. or something. At a minimum, they should be able to police people actually living in their cars. That might cut down on things. In the long run, I really wish they’d get rid of the streets that go through the park. All they do is turn it into four mini-parks with streets running through them. It makes it feel even more “urban” than it needs to. And congrats to Kat. If they can turn around Central Park in NYC, I don’t see why they can’t do the same in LB.
I rode my bike through Heatwell park and Pan American Park this weekend and saw zero druggies and homeless people congregating, camping out or fighting. I didn’t see any.
What I did see was many families of different races having fun picnicking and cooking out. For several minutes I enjoyed watching a softball game played by both girls and boys of color, including both children and adults. Everyone appeared to be laughing and having fun.
What I also saw at both parks was a police presence.
I was changing my son’s diaper one day when one of the local losers took the opportunity to steal my camera from our stroller when my back was turned. Fortunately, a couple of guys saw the dude hide in the bathroom and told me he was in there. I searched him when he was peeing and found it in his jacket.
From my thirty three year perspective of the Park,what has been described in
the article is a accurate and fair representation of what goes on in Biixby
Park.
The deep rooted problems can be traced to the legacy of the Lowenthall
legacy of adopting and fashioning policies that are a magnate for attracting
those,who will always have to be dependent upon Government–ie Lowenthalls.
True,homelessness per se not a crime.Yet,the majority of the conduct described in this article is.
The solution is clear.Eliminate Section 8 and the myriad of programs which
attract the problems.
Neither Beverly Hills or Irvine have such problems.Why?Because they do
not have section 8 or its related programs.
Turn every single person out of office that will not vote to end Section 8
and its related programs.Absent such Long Beach will become a Detroit
by the end of the decade.
It goes without saying that one would have to be a fool to think Councilman
De Long cares anything about the unchecked deterioration of the impacted
neighborhoods.
Look at the deterioration he has ushered into Belmont Shore and Marine
Stadium neighborhoods.Note last at the last Council meetings,the King
of the Flea Markets-gree lighted-impregnating a Grasy City Parkway
with a N E O N –sign advertising a Whinery!!!!!!
Clearly we need a near clean sweep in November 20012-.Send them
neither to Council,Sacramento or Washington—BUT TO COVENTRY!!!!!
It sounds like there needs to be more officers on bike patrols in and around Bixby Park. Personally I had never felt unsafe there. My kids have spent a lot of time in that park this summer. With that said, I would never choose to live so close to that park.
@Dave in Alamitos Beach I think your idea of removing the streets through the park is a great one. It seems like a lot of the problems stem from the ability to drive through the park and park your car within the park (hence the no cruising signs posted throughout). It also give them impression that Bixby is not a real park but just a little bit of green space sandwiched between some streets.
I’m not naive in thinking this would solve all the parks problems, but it would go a long way in improving both usability of the park and improve the image (let’s be honest the vehicles with occupants living and sleeping aren’t the most attractive nor calming site and certainly don’t help in discouraging lawless behavior).
Regardless, thank you Greater Long Beach for providing a forum for this discussion, it is one that is long overdue and hopefully some momentum for change takes root because of it.
@In the know: guess what, I have a couple homeless folks that cruise down my street everyday, also I live on an alley behind a liquor store and I run into one out there about once a week. I have even watched them steal stuff out of my car and from my –wait for it–front porch.
I guess when I look at homeless people, I think, “but there for the grace of God go I.”
Most of them are out there because they are suffering serious disadvantages for whatever reason– a lot of them are suffering mental illness. I mean seriously–is it normal to do all these things Ms. Peterson wrote about in a park? No!
When I say being homeless is not a crime, I am saying where is the compassion for these people? When the cops show up, what are they gonna do if there isn’t anywhere or anyway for them to get these people help and get them off the street?
Being in a parking-impacted neighborhood, taking out the streets traversing Bixby Park and the dozens of parking spaces contained within will only significantly worsen an already serious shortage of street parking in the neighboring apartment-dense blocks.
I routinely walk my doggy through Bixby and can count on one hand the number of down-on-their-luck types noticably living out of their vehicles at any given time. In fact, one woman living in her Chevy van, rescued a young dog some teenager leashed to a light post and subsequently abandoned in the park. She temporarily adopted the young dog and managed to feed and care for it until she could find a permanent home for it …she DID!..and told me a young couple living nearby adopted it.
A few unfortunate, harmless souls living in their vehicles and who tend to keep to themselves, does not justify making a serious parking shortage MUCH WORSE! Consider also the increased congestion at the four adjacent intersections if drive-through passage is eliminated from the park.
Taking out the thru-streets traversing Bixby Park is a BAD idea and does nothing to address the deeper-seated issues of homelessness and the various criminal activity negatively impacting the park.
@Dave in Alamitos Beach: I think this idea of yours–to remove those streets is brilliant. It would improve the park immeasurably. I have always thought the park felt more like a parking lot than a park. Also the cars really limit visibility through the park. But good luck with that, the area is heavily parking impacted I doubt all the apartment building dwellers will like that idea. Again– this is the result of allowing single family homes to be torn down and replaced with apartments buildings that were built without parking.
A couple years ago, Dee Andrews (correct me if I am mistaken) proposed a way to allow homeless people to stay overnight in church and unused parking lots. This was shot down. But wouldn’t be awesome if instead of hanging out in the park we gave these people a “home” somewhere else?
In his book “What the Dog Saw”, Malcom Gladwell explains why giving homeless people apartments, while seemingly expensive on the surface actually saves local governments much more than homeless people currently cost via police, fire, and emergency room services. In addition people with homes often start to feel better and more enfranchised and are better able to rejoin society as a contributing member. But my guess is no one would ever agree to any of these ideas.
Instead our city is about to spend $600, 000 on a new website. I calculate that rent for for about 75-100 apartments for a year. See?
The solutions are out there.
LBcity girl, you are right on about the website craziness, BUT wrong about no place for the homeless to go. The cops know there are resources for the homeless, they just do not want to deal with ‘ them’ unless they are forced to.Do you actually believe the police have no options? Do you really believe the homeless have no options? Educate yourself and make a difference instead of throwing up your hands while buying into the “they have no place to go” bs.
And as far as giving them LB taxpayer paid homes, are you nuts??
Like dealing with an ant problem by putting out sugar.
http://www.longbeach.gov/health/fss/homeless_services/
@In the know: Thanks for the link. If you reviewed it you would see that those services are inadequate. I also missed the part where there are tools for law enforcement in regards to helping the homeless.
None of those services seem to be open after 5pm…guess that explains why they live in the park.
Incidentally, the law also says that people over 18 cannot be forced to accept mental health or homeless services, so that linkn knid of becomes meaningless.
Also thanks for calling me nuts…that is exactly what Malcolm Gladwell’s point is: that the most simple effective solution will be called nuts. You should read the book, it is an excellent way to turn you canned thinking on its head.
So much of the prime real estate in Long Beach has been given over to parking spaces, and Bixby Park appears to be no different. The better solution than keeping the streets in existence through Bixby Park is for the city to buy up a decrepit Section 8 slumbuilding somewhere in Alamitos Beach and replace it with a landscaped parking lot.
How many parking spaces are there in Bixby Park? 50? 100? Replacing them with a parking lot somewhere in Alamitos Beach instead of Bixby Park solves 3 problems: you get a better park, you get parking closer to where people live (they shouldn’t be living in the park), and you get rid of a crackerbox fiasco.
Of course, this would take a bit of leadership in City Hall to pull off. Since Suja has built her entire career on “do nothing” it would take someone with a bit more vision to come up with this. Calling Robert Garcia!?
So much prime real estate in LB has been given over to parking spaces and yet there is still a parking shortage in all the beach neighborhoods? Seriously? And you want to tear down other peoples’ homes — not your home of course — to surrender more prime real estate to parking? Your comments are at best, ironic, and at worst, snobbish. You want to displace other people from their homes, and inconvenience others (apartment dwellers around Bixby appreciate the parking close to their residences), just to satisfy your personal sense of park aesthetics.
It bears repeating that homeless folks and criminal activiity will still gravitate to Bixby regardless of whether 1st and 2nd streets biscet it and how prettier it may appear without those streets running through it.
Wow, talk about taking things personal. I’m not trying to be ironic or snobbish, just throwing out possible solutions. I would have no problem with the city tearing down my home to increase parking – all they have to do is pay the market rate for it, which is what I’ve implied, though I may not have made it clear. How is trading parking in one area, for parking in another area, closer to where the parking is really impacted inconvienencing others and being snobbish?
Huh, anyway, yes I’ll go on record that I think putting a parking lot in the dicey neighborhoods around 4th & Orange would be a better solution to the parking problem. I’m sure there are more buildings that the police department would suggest should be torn down based on level of nuisance calls.
@Laurence B. Goodhue – - I do not know too many places in that area that do Section 8 and if you got rid of Section 8 there would be more homeless, people would not be able to afford their apartments.
Street parking is such an enormous issue in Long Beach. I live in a small apartment building that was built in 1918 so an old house was not bulldozed to put up an apartment building…it’s been here longer than most of us have been on the planet. These old buildings offer narrow driveways (too narrow for a car) & carriage houses in the backyards rather than garages (again too narrow for a car), so street parking is all that is available. I do not believe getting rid of the street parking in Bixby Park will solve anything as far as the illegal acts going on in the park & most of the vehicles have little or nothing to do with the activities being discussed.
There are only 3-6 people living in their cars, however, they DO partake in illegal activities. The bathrooms in the park are locked at night so they urinate/defacate in the gutters along 2nd Street between Junipero & Cherry…have you taken a whiff of this area? EL STINKO! Yes, the woman (mentioned above) in the van does have a soft spot for animals she is even friendly…when sober…I have spoken to her myself…however I have seen her engage in certain acts that are illegal when perfomed in public. I was really hoping NOT to get into this kind of detail…
As far as places for the homeless to go…there are hundreds of shelters & programs in So Cal…they may not necessarily be in Long Beach but they are available for homeless, drug addicts, alcoholics, dual diagnosis (addiction & mental illness combined) AND OUR USA VETERANS that are on the streets and there are MANY!. It takes a little bit of work to get into a program because there is paperwork & the right program & agency needs to be matched to each person, but it IS do-able!
I have watched a policeman in a patrol vehicle look directly at & watch (almost stare) Mr. PeePee urinating on the wall of RiteAid, the policeman could see what the man was doing (if I can tell, anyone can tell) & he just kept driving…a flagrant disregard of the law and his job!
Helping the homeless is not glamorous (most celebrities won’t get involved with this kind of non-profit work – they won’t lend their names to this cause – a few select will), they aren’t pretty and they don’t smell good. But they are our citizens (a good many are, some are illegal…don’t get me started on that).
It really pisses me off that in this great country of ours we have homeless/hungry/addicted people on our streets at all…especially USA Veterans! There is NO excuse for homelessness in this country. What pisses me off even more is the unwillingness of others to help OUR citizens but they are willing to send their money to FOREIGN countries. We need to clean up our own backyards FIRST and Bixby Park is in my yard…so this is where I will concentrate my energies…not just cleaning up the park but helping the people that want help & hopefully changing the minds of those that don’t want help but need it.
Put up or shut up. That’s MY story and I’m stickin’ to it!
The City should not be in the housing business-with the limited exception
of helping working with the VA to assist former members of the military.
This City is loaded with Section 8 housing-they come in near calvacades
on the Red;Gold;Green Line-to the Blue Line and off load in Long Beach-
ventually ending up in Bixby Park.
Eliminate all Section 8.and related services. The word will spread.
It is the converse of build it and they will come. Do not build it–and
they will not come.
laurence are you still fighting your quixotic battle against gay sex in the bathrooms of your local park? your lonely crusade, one totally straight nothing to see here hetero man against the gay invaders, a man forced to watch homesexual acts happen over and over again right in front of him in order to get inside the head of his enemy…i salute you sir!
Note to Howard X:
Alas,it would appear that you are still breakfasting on your Fruit Loops.
The body bag filling pubic health issue you refer to has,essentially
migrated elsewhere. Though at its zenith the Tea time cavalcades
reached 30-50 cars per hour–it has dropped essentially to near zero.
Its near disappearance can be attributed to the circa near 300 + residents
in the impact area with cameras.Credit use also be given the LBPD-and LAPD
who patrol and live in the area.
After hearing both sides I still think removing 1st and 2nd street and extending the park space is a great idea that would improve the park measurably. However, I do agree that parking within the neighborhood is an absolute nightmare and putting a dent in the problem is gonna take some inventive thinking.
Some options are overnight parking in area parking lots (Rite Aid, Laundry Matt 2nd/Cerritos?), parking passes for area residents, discontinuing the tactic of 4AM-8AM street sweeping parking restrictions in the area, and as as Dave in Alamitos Beach pointed out possibly removing derelict/problem buildings in the area for landscaped parking lots. Just some ideas.
Finally, I disagree with that assertion that assigning a few cops to the area (which, I agree will help) is the solution. As one commenter noted the cops show up, but after they leave the behavior continues. A long term fix for this problem is going to involve a multitude of factors police presence being just one of them.
In any case, it’s great a conversation has started about the conditions within the park and ideas of how to make it better as this is usually the first step in making something change for the better.
Expanding positive activity in and around the park would go a long way to reducing unsavory elements. The Friends of Bixby Park are doing a great job adding more programs that bring people for the one event and hopefully create repeat visitors. Continuing to work with PRM to continue programing and add/improve amenities in the park would continue bringing foot-traffic to recreate be it yoga lessons or puppet shows.
Bixby Park benefits from having a lot of activity around the park, with lots of residential units surrounding the park. When they see negative activity taking place in the park they voice their concerns whether to the police or their respective elected officials. It would probably be beneficial to have more commercial activity the help create more activity during the day (when residents are typically working).
As far as closing First and Second Street, it likely won’t solve the problem. The loss of parking in the park can likely be made up one block east by converting it to diagonal parking as the rest of Alamitos Beach. There are ways to improve connectivity through the park (narrow the streets, change the pavement from asphalt, curb extensions, etc.) but closing them down completely might not be necessary. What you lose from cruising you also lose from general eyes on the park via drivers.
I’m not sure a comment section gives the subject justice…
I am laughing at L. Goodhue’s comment, “If you build it they will come.”
Dude, they are already here.
As so often is the case ,City Girl misses the point.
The numbers have grown expodentially with the expansion
of Democratic/ Lowenthall drive and polices to make increasing numbers
dependent upon government.
“The numbers have grown expodentially with the expansion
of Democratic/ Lowenthall drive and polices to make increasing numbers
dependent upon government.”
unlike laurence who apparently doesnt depend on the government for anything…who wants to bet he collects SS, is on medicare, drives on govt maintained roads, eats food thats safe because of govt inspection etc etc.
Brian, you should make the issue of “urbanization” in parks one of your topics. 1st & 2nd street are just examples, but I worry about your Armory Park.
When they put in a “park” at the corner of Orange/Alamitos where they join up, they divided it up by unnecessary streets, thereby creating big curbs that will collect graffiti/trash, but no real park space.
And yes, I will go on record as saying the streets that go through Bixby Park turn it into a fairly ugly streetscape with pocket parks as opposed to a large central city park. Ditto the rather ugly and sorta useless buildings and other infrastructure.
@ Brian, do you live in the area or have lived in the area, there are positive activites that take place, but they are being out weighted by the bad, and who wants to participate in positive activity when you see people peeing, fighting shooting up drugs and other illegal activity. People have voiced their concerns and nothing has happened.
lbgirl, Bixby happens to be our neighborhood park. We live a few blocks away and use the playground every weekend. There are in fact a lot of good things taking place (including people calling and writing letters), but there are portions of the park that for one reason or another are more prone to negative activity. More police and better maintenance can help but design can also help out.
Take the northwest corner of the park for example (toward Broadway-Cherry): 1) it is the only side of the park without residential or commercial activity fronting it (back of Rite Aid). 2) it is in perpetual shade from the heavy tree coverage (not always a bad thing). 3) there is little programmed activity (tot lot, skatepark or rec center) or open space for unprogrammed uses like picnics or pick-up soccer (south of 1st and south of Ocean). So that is why less desirable activity takes place most often in that area.
There are larger issues that cannot be resolved until we as a society choose to face them, but we can mitigate some of those circumstances that come from them through design.
Dave, I had a day to think about it and closing the streets could be advantagous to the park. You can probably pick up another 10% more park area by closing the streets. Closing 2nd Street could be particularly interesting. I reserve the right to change my mind again…
I’m not trying to be a pessimist, but…
IMO the problems we’re discussing are a symptom of the conditions of neighborhoods surrounding the park. I’ve always believed that if people took ownership of just the little bit of sidewalk in front of their Alamitos Beach buildings, things like this wouldn’t be tolerated.
I think it’s great that people want to focus on the park, but I would liken focusing on YOUR neighborhood to an ounce of prevention.
Maybe the surrounding neighborhood should more highly organize a neighborhood watch that patrols the park throughout the night. They could just remind people the park is closed and it’s time to go home.
Back to closing the streets: The thing to do is to take out the streets and put a real parking lot in at one end of the park, or put paralell parking along Cherry or Junipero. If necessary take a slice out of the park along one or both of these streets. Instead of having parking surrounding the park, it would open up the vista in a way that police cruising by on Broadway or Ocean would have better visibility through the park.
Also the reason why the homeless hang out along Cherry is because that is where most off the tables and benches are that are a bit away from the eyeline of the tot lots. Take out those picnic table and move them over to the grassy area between Ocean and First Street.
I meant put diagonal parking along Cherry or Junipero.
All the talk about increasing “positive” activity in Bixby while taking away parking for safe, convenient access to such activities (playground, picnicing, summer concerts, movies, Shakespeare-in-the-park) makes no sense whatsoever. Woud you want to double-park on busy Cherry or Junipero to unload picnic supplies or carry them a half-block or more because there was no parking available and convenient to the picnic tables? Or walk your small children an extended distance because no parking was available close to the playground?
Cherry and Junipero are too narrow and heavily trafficed to make diagonal parking safe and practical on those two streets. Especially considering how more congested will become the four park-adjecent intersections if the 1st and 2nd streets were closed off.
Ms. LB: With respect, your suggestion -that the surrounding neighborhood should more highly organize a neighborhood watch that patrols the park throughout the night. They could just remind people the park is closed and it’s time to go home- while well-intended, is unwise. Many late night park loiters carry weapons, have extensive criminal histories (some of them violent) and serious substance abuse and emotional and mental health challenges.
These are not the sort of people that the average, unarmed, good citizen, alone or in numbers, should be approaching and reminding of anything.
I would support a suggestion that groups of neighbors in the area with clear views of the park become better organized to make accurate observations and timely reports of what they see to the police.
A well-organized constituency group is far more likely to gain the awareness and, more importantly, the support of the local Council office. I can tell you from personal experience that when a Council office calls any city department, things get done far more quickly than they might otherwise.
Organize, observe, and report and gain the active support of the council office.
@John: That suggestion was meant completely tongue and cheek, because that really would be unsafe! That is why this neighborhood is asking for more police patrol or a park ranger! Obviously drunk, high, crazy people with nothing to loose and no where to go are a threat to the average citizen!
@DWR: I think what could be done would be to remove some of the green belt along Junipero and Cherry to make the streets wide enough to accomodate diagonal parking. I’d put that parking on the side of the street oppposite the park to keep the park visible and not block it with parked cars at all. The park would have either red, yellow or blue spaces and all diagonal parking across the street. i.e. make the entire curb around the park “no parking” except for handicap and unloading. Also, Brian U is correct in pointing out that directly east of the park First and Second streets are excessively wide, and diagonal parking would be excellent there. That is also where the apartments are (where people have turned one family homes into 4 plexes). I bet those people would be STOKED! to park closer to home!
Short of establishing a police substation in the park, you’re just putting a band-aid on the problem here. I’d love a constant police presence there, but I’d also love for it to rain beer–neither seems too realistic.
But I am a big personal responsibility person. I don’t feel too bad for people without ample parking–it’s a choice. Likewise, I don’t feel that bad for *many* (not all) of the people griping about the state of the park. The park is a direct reflection of the neighborhoods west and north of it. When a neighborhood is teeming with tweakers and other miscreants, common sense dictates that the park will reflect this. I suppose conflict comes because those who wish to gentrify the area (myself included) want to see our values reflected in OUR park too.
I’m just a guy. I don’t think I have all the answers. I gave up on my neighborhood (Alamitos Beach) because I couldn’t handle feeling like an island fighting to make my home and surrounding area better. But I don’t get it. The areas surrounding BP are sooo densely populated and nearly everyone I come across says they want things to get better — but 99% of them pretend they don’t see the bad things going on. They’re scared of what might happen if they speak up, they take the easy route, whatever.
Wow — a little tangential here — I strongly believe you have to fix the street corners in AB before BP will ever show real improvement.
“I’d also love for it to rain beer” pretty much sums up the whole situation
I’ve always wondered if low concentrations of owner-occupied dwellings are what really drives the creation and persistence of “problem parks” and other public spaces.
I’m not bagging on renters. It just seems that if it is easier to bail on an undesirable living situation, renters will flee, neighborhood turnover will continue — and you’re never going to create a core of people to solve the problem that politicos and city officials are going to take seriously as anything but an opportunity to provide lip service).
So, if only from benign neglect, you get a city creating higher propensities for problems in certain neighborhoods. Is this issue covered in Zoning 101 classes in public administration programs? Anyone with city planning experience want to weigh in?
I am definitely in agreement that subpar housing and absentee landlords really hurts the neighborhood. It would be much better for the neighborhood if some tasteful gentrifiers (okay, gay guys) came in and turned back some of the house-splitting places into single familiy homes, or took a questionably ugly fourplex and turned it into a nice duplex.
But that takes courage and money, oft-times rare commodities.
Contract the Fullerton P.D. to sweep Bixby clean of “undesirables”.
A failed ideology if ever there was one.
I think the ideas of making diagonal parking on 1st & 2nd streets on the south side of the park to make up for the loss of parking in the park is a great idea. It would also slow traffic on these same streets. I live on 2nd south of the park and we definitely have people speeding through the area mainly due to over sized width of the streets.
Very good commentary and also a very good debate. Particularly like comments by Mr. Greet, on the complexity of the issue and the need for an organized constituency to work with the police on reporting incidents and times. If policing is one element, I might suggest subdividing a secure space (under 300 sq. feet would suffice) within the Community Center to be used by the police as a base for bicycle patrol officers. The Bixby Park site not only could use the presence of officers, but a bike team would then be ideally situated to ride a circuit that includes the beach path, and the Ocean Blvd and Broadway corridors.
With the state due imminently to release thousands of convicted criminals early from the prisons, it is certain that Long Beach will experience an upsurge in crime. And since inmates are given a whopping two hundred bucks and a bus ticket as they are booted out, it won’t take long for many of them to wind up directly on the streets.
The debate over such a proposal would understandably take some time, but at the very least, this issue would suggest that the need for patrol officers is as great now as it was yesterday, and so I would weigh in against the proposal within the city manager’s budget of cutting 14 patrol officers.
Has anyone noticed the change in the park since this discussion began a week or so ago? The presence of the individuals being discussed has decreased significantly, incidents requiring the police have decreased, no one is sleeping in the band shell or passed out on the grass, and Mr. PeePee has all but disappeared. The people camping in vehicles hasn’t changed but I have hope. My neighbor and I have also noted a larger police presence in the park throughout the day and night. So if nothing else we have a small start…I’ve read all the comments/postings and there are many great ideas and it’s nice to know I’m not the only one that feels the park is in big trouble. Now if we can convey this to Lowenthal & DeLong and get them off their behinds…thank you to everyone that wrote in…your passion for BP & Long Beach in general is greatly appreciated…let’s keep after these Council people and make Long Beach what it SHOULD BE” again.
Hey Kat:
What I’ve noticed in Bixby are cyclical periods of “cleansing” and police activity. The law enforcement and patrols are stepped-up, the park appears cleaner for a time, but then police activity decreases, the trashiness returns and the park returns to its former state.
Any idea for the inconsistency?
I wonder how long the average southern Alamitos Beach owner/resident intends to stay in Alamitos Beach.
How many came a little too late to the property ‘flipping’ party and got ‘trapped’ here mid-flip by the declining RE market – becoming unintentional longer-term residents.
How does gentrification square with that and the impending impact Bill Orton points to three comments above:
California ordered to release 33,000 prisoners, many mentally iIl
http://www.emaxhealth.com/6705/california-ordered-release-33000-prisoners-many-mentallyiill
Dominika Osmolska Psy.D. on 2011-06-10
The New Asylums
America’s severely mentally ill, who once would have been in state psychiatric hospitals, are now in state prisons. Why is this happening? And what is mental health care like behind bars? Frontline goes deep inside Ohio’s prison system to examine a troubling and growing issue [2005].
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/
Fewer than 55,000 Americans currently receive treatment in psychiatric hospitals. Meanwhile, almost 10 times that number — nearly 500,000 — mentally ill men and women are serving time in U.S. jails and prisons. As sheriffs and prison wardens become the unexpected and often ill-equipped caretakers of this burgeoning population, they raise a troubling new concern: Have America’s jails and prisons become its new asylums?
–
…exacerbated by the continuing trend toward a reduced police presence in the face of budget cuts.
-Pan
Interesting points Pan. I’d guess that plenty of residents are “stuck” but a fair number aren’t (especially if you look at the number of foreclosures in the area–people must not be too stuck).
To DWR. Also an interesting point. But like I mentioned earlier, isn’t it fair to say that such a cyclical period of cleansing parallels the attention most of the neighborhood gives it? Slow n steady wins the race.
im really glad i found this article. i cannot believe mr. peepee is so famous. he’s definitely apart of the “race to the bottom” we talk about in media literacy. perhaps he will get his own reality show…..
but on a more serious note, it is devastating to see what i see in the park everyday. and i see people sleeping in their cars every single night because i get home late and walk through the park (and through the dog shit) to get to my apartment. it makes me so sad to see people sleeping in their cars and on benches- especially when its so cold.
its true the police completely ignore this problem. they drive by all the time. and thats all they do- drive by. it makes me feel really crappy to watch them give someone an unwarranted traffic ticket, as opposed to doing something about the park.
i would love to see “doggie walk bags” in the park. theres poop everywhere- i just stepped in some today. i know there are some people who will never clean up after their dogs, but there needs to be some sort of an effort by the city to encourage people to do so.
anyways, ive been to hundreds of clean parks in my life. many in cities. i dont understand the excuses and deflections for why we can’t work on this problem. im glad someone else feels the same way.
by the way, the person who said “oh i see butterflies and rainbows in the park everyday” needs to look at the pictures. bc THATS the park i see out MY window everyday- and its a major bummer!